Turchynov attended drills of National Guard commandoes: "One of their tasks will be elimination of armed subversives". PHOTOS

The threat of resumption of hostilities in the east of Ukraine posed by the Russian Federation remains high despite the trend of actual cease-fire in the ATO area.

National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov stated at a briefing during exercises of tactical assault brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, Censor.NET reports citing the press service of the NSDC.

"Ukraine is consistently implementing its commitments, but we do not see withdrawal of the Russian soldiers from the occupied territory as well as reduction of concentration of the Russian troops deployed along our eastern border", he said adding that this was the reason why the increase of combat readiness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard remained one of top priorities.

Oleksandr Turchynov noted that the distinctive feature of the tactical assault brigade of the National Guard was its high mobility.

"The commandos are able to reach any point of the country in a matter of hours using military aircraft," he said

In addition, the NSDC Secretary stressed that the brigade was furnished with advanced munitions, weapons and military hardware. "The approach to munitions, training, and military-technical provisioning fully meets NATO standards," he added.

"Taking into consideration the significant increase in the activity of combat subversive reconnaissance and terrorist groups, which are trained both in the occupied territory and in special camps located along our border with Russia, one of the tasks of the tactical assault brigade is to detect, locate, and eliminate armed subversives," Oleksandr Turchynov said adding that the brigade would be able to accomplish any combat mission having a powerful military equipment and professionally trained soldiers at its disposal.

He also said that the significant increase of the salary of the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine commandos was planned: "The private career soldiers will receive a basic salary of 7,000 hryvnia (about $320) per month, which will be increased according to the length of service, specialization and military ranks."

"The formation of the brigade should be finished in two months but despite this, the soldiers are undergoing combat coordination and ready to carry out combat missions," the NSDC Secretary said.

Oleksandr Turchynov urged the public-spirited young people, especially those who have combat experience and have returned from the ATO area being demobilized, to join the National Guard tactical assault brigade as well as KORD Special Rapid Response Detachment of the National Police. The competition to fill the vacancies there will be announced soon.

All materials published on this website that cite Interfax-Ukraine news agency as a source should not be further copied and/or redistributed in any other form without written consent by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.